Uncle Mel's Superior Skills Land Fox News Bargain

[David]

Friday, Feb. 17, 2006
Fox News, Talk Channels Return To Sirius

The network's programming vanished from Sirius' programming slate at
the end of 2005 when the two sides couldn't agree on terms for a
contract extension, but Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin announced during his
company's earnings conference call this morning that a deal has been
reached, and Fox will return to Sirius next month.

Karmazin said that despite the programming's being yanked at year's
end, the two sides have been negotiating ever since and have reached
an agreement that benefited not only Sirius, but rival XM as well. "We
were able to secure all of the programming at a price acceptable to
Fox and at a significant reduction to the cost that we would have had
to pay in December," he said. "We are very pleased for our subscribers
and our shareholders that Fox will be added back to Sirius.

"Since this was nonexclusive content, and there were reciprocal MFNs
[most favored nation agreements] for both satellite radio companies,
our negotiations also enabled our competitor to receive Fox at our
lower rate. You're welcome."

Terms of the new deal were not disclosed.

— Joe Howard, R&R Washington Bureau Chief

randr

[NoDownTime@gmail.com]

>
> The network's programming vanished from Sirius' programming slate at
> the end of 2005 when the two sides couldn't agree on terms for a
> contract extension, but Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin announced during his
> company's earnings conference call this morning that a deal has been
> reached, and Fox will return to Sirius next month.
>
> Karmazin said that despite the programming's being yanked at year's
> end, the two sides have been negotiating ever since and have reached
> an agreement that benefited not only Sirius, but rival XM as well. "We
> were able to secure all of the programming at a price acceptable to
> Fox and at a significant reduction to the cost that we would have had
> to pay in December," he said. "We are very pleased for our subscribers
> and our shareholders that Fox will be added back to Sirius.
>
> "Since this was nonexclusive content, and there were reciprocal MFNs
> [most favored nation agreements] for both satellite radio companies,
> our negotiations also enabled our competitor to receive Fox at our
> lower rate. You're welcome."
>
> Terms of the new deal were not disclosed.

And anyone who believes FNC didn't get its asking price is a total
idiot. When you're negotiating, you make "your final offer" and the
other party walks away, you don't cut the price when he comes crawling
back.

[Rich]

So Mel is lying and you are not. Is that what you are saying Frontmed?

[tidefan67@hotmail.com]

Still, this is good news for Sirius. There are alot of subscribers who
are not Howard fans who need content. Fox is a great alternative for
them.

[Bingo_17]

>
> And anyone who believes FNC didn't get its asking price is a total
> idiot. When you're negotiating, you make "your final offer" and the
> other party walks away, you don't cut the price when he comes crawling
> back.
>

An anyone that believes the above as posted by Frontmed would also
be an idiot just like Frontmed. Frontmed OPINIONS are never ending and
lack merit!

[Don Knuth]

It was a great move for Sirius to get FNC back. But it was stupid to have
them go in the first place -- if they were going to cave they would have
been far better off to have done so before thousands of customers switched
to XM.

The fact that they didn't cave in the first place makes one wonder just how
on top of things they are -- did they not understand just how many subs that
would cost them?

XM management had long stressed the importance of FNC as a content item;
apparently, Sirius doubted that. When Mel came crawling back, he apparently
ended up paying some of XM's tab. I thought I heard Hugh say, "Thanks,
Mel".



<tidefan67@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1140286564.753332.322100@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Still, this is good news for Sirius. There are alot of subscribers who
> are not Howard fans who need content. Fox is a great alternative for
> them.
>

[David]

On Sat, 18 Feb 2006 22:33:39 GMT, "Don Knuth" <Don@nomail.com> wrote:

>It was a great move for Sirius to get FNC back. But it was stupid to have
>them go in the first place -- if they were going to cave they would have
>been far better off to have done so before thousands of customers switched
>to XM.
>
>The fact that they didn't cave in the first place makes one wonder just how
>on top of things they are -- did they not understand just how many subs that
>would cost them?
>
>XM management had long stressed the importance of FNC as a content item;
>apparently, Sirius doubted that. When Mel came crawling back, he apparently
>ended up paying some of XM's tab. I thought I heard Hugh say, "Thanks,
>Mel".
>
>
The article says nothing about Karmazin crawling. It says he got a
better deal.

Those thousands of listeners didn't walk, which freaked Fox. They
blinked.

[yqf@my-deja.com]

NoDownTime@gmail.com (one of frontmed's many aliases) wrote:
> >
> > The network's programming vanished from Sirius' programming slate at
> > the end of 2005 when the two sides couldn't agree on terms for a
> > contract extension, but Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin announced during his
> > company's earnings conference call this morning that a deal has been
> > reached, and Fox will return to Sirius next month.
> >
> > Karmazin said that despite the programming's being yanked at year's
> > end, the two sides have been negotiating ever since and have reached
> > an agreement that benefited not only Sirius, but rival XM as well. "We
> > were able to secure all of the programming at a price acceptable to
> > Fox and at a significant reduction to the cost that we would have had
> > to pay in December," he said. "We are very pleased for our subscribers
> > and our shareholders that Fox will be added back to Sirius.
> >
> > "Since this was nonexclusive content, and there were reciprocal MFNs
> > [most favored nation agreements] for both satellite radio companies,
> > our negotiations also enabled our competitor to receive Fox at our
> > lower rate. You're welcome."
> >
> > Terms of the new deal were not disclosed.
>
> And anyone who believes FNC didn't get its asking price is a total
> idiot. When you're negotiating, you make "your final offer" and the
> other party walks away, you don't cut the price when he comes crawling
> back.

But it was obviously Faux who came crawling back after Karmazin called
their bluff and dropped them. That's why Sirius got a better deal than
XM and forced Faux to reduce it's rate to XM under a most favored
nations clause in the Faux/XM contract.

Frontmed, this is yet another example of why you have ZERO credibility
around here. You expect us to believe that Faux was offering Sirius a
better deal than they did for XM before Karmazin called their bluff and
dropped Faux. That makes no sense. It's a laughable assertion. They got
dropped trying to extort Sirius for the rate that XM management was
stupid enough to pay, and Faux came running back to the bargaining
table when Karmazin refused to pay and dropped them. The shame of it
all is that in the end XM benefited from Karmazin's superior
negotiating skills, and they didn't get stuck paying more for Faux than
Sirius did.

[yqf@my-deja.com]

For those who don't already know "Don Knuth" is yet another alias for
"frontmed", the guy with ZERO credibility around here. That's why he
posts under so many different aliases. Keep frontmed's credibility in
mind as you read the following that he posted under one of his aliases:

Don Knuth wrote:
> It was a great move for Sirius to get FNC back. But it was stupid to have
> them go in the first place -- if they were going to cave they would have
> been far better off to have done so before thousands of customers switched
> to XM.
>
> The fact that they didn't cave in the first place makes one wonder just how
> on top of things they are -- did they not understand just how many subs that
> would cost them?
>
> XM management had long stressed the importance of FNC as a content item;
> apparently, Sirius doubted that. When Mel came crawling back, he apparently
> ended up paying some of XM's tab. I thought I heard Hugh say, "Thanks,
> Mel".
>
>
>
> <tidefan67@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1140286564.753332.322100@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > Still, this is good news for Sirius. There are alot of subscribers who
> > are not Howard fans who need content. Fox is a great alternative for
> > them.
> >

[Admiral Grace Murray Hopper]

> But it was obviously Faux who came crawling back after Karmazin called
> their bluff and dropped them. That's why Sirius got a better deal than
> XM and forced Faux to reduce it's rate to XM under a most favored
> nations clause in the Faux/XM contract.

It was "obvious"? How was it "obvious"? Only by the most convoluted
reasoning can you conlude this.

Fox had already cut SIRI's feed to FNC a couple months before year end
because Sirius had refused to abide by Fox's terms. What is "obvious" is
that Fox had no hesitation, whatsoever, to tell Sirius to pay up or turn it
off.

Furthermore, Fox had been applying pressure to Sirius by virtue of promoting
XM's exclusivity. Are you actually trying to suggest that this pressure
caused FOX to cave? LOL.

You saying I have no "credibility" doesn't make it so. The reality is that
what I'm saying makes total sense and what you and Doberman are saying makes
absolutely ZERO sense.

Fox got precisely what they had demanded previously from Sirius. But Sirius
gave up a TON of subscribers in the process.

[David]

On Tue, 21 Feb 2006 06:24:02 GMT, "Admiral Grace Murray Hopper"
<grace@nomail.com> wrote:

>
>> But it was obviously Faux who came crawling back after Karmazin called
>> their bluff and dropped them. That's why Sirius got a better deal than
>> XM and forced Faux to reduce it's rate to XM under a most favored
>> nations clause in the Faux/XM contract.
>
>It was "obvious"? How was it "obvious"? Only by the most convoluted
>reasoning can you conlude this.
>
>Fox had already cut SIRI's feed to FNC a couple months before year end
>because Sirius had refused to abide by Fox's terms. What is "obvious" is
>that Fox had no hesitation, whatsoever, to tell Sirius to pay up or turn it
>off.
>
>Furthermore, Fox had been applying pressure to Sirius by virtue of promoting
>XM's exclusivity. Are you actually trying to suggest that this pressure
>caused FOX to cave? LOL.
>
>You saying I have no "credibility" doesn't make it so. The reality is that
>what I'm saying makes total sense and what you and Doberman are saying makes
>absolutely ZERO sense.
>
>Fox got precisely what they had demanded previously from Sirius. But Sirius
>gave up a TON of subscribers in the process.
>
>
Obvious because Mel and Charlie know each other.

[whorton4]

That would not be the same Donald Knuth who is the author of "Seminumerical
Algorithms?"

[Rich]

>>>Fox got precisely what they had demanded previously from Sirius.

Prove it Twit.

You just like taking up bandwidith and wasting everyone's time with
your XM touting. While your at it, tell us how much money Mel saved XM
on the rights to broadcast Fox News and Talk. Why couldn't XM make
their own deal and required Mel to intervene to save teh day? Just
another reason an XM Director quit. It is time for the Parsons and
Pornero bothers to leave.

[Dr. Droo]

whorton4 wrote:
> That would not be the same Donald Knuth who is the author of "Seminumerical
> Algorithms?"

Frontmed is picking pioneers in Computer Science as his choice for
aliases lately. That way, he doesn't have to take responsibility when
his posts come back to bite him.

--D